Maui – Lowest Property Taxes in the State of Hawaii

“Lucky we live Maui” is a phrase that is often heard on the island of Maui.  That phrase is especially relevant when looking at our property taxes.  For the past 11 years I’ve represented home buyers who are often surprised and delighted to discover Maui’s low property tax rates. In fact, we have some of the lowest property tax rates in all of the Hawaiian Islands, especially for homeowner/occupants.

For an example, let’s take a nice round number of $500,000 as the assessed value of a home or condo you purchased in Maui county (Maui county includes the island of Maui, Lanai and Molokai).  If you live in the home full-time, you get to take an owner-occupant exemption of $200,000, or $2/thousand.  This makes the annual owner tax on a home with an assessed value of $500,000 a total of only $400.

Perhaps you plan to purchase your Maui home/condo as an investment to lease to long-term tenants, or leave unoccupied, the taxes are still relatively low!  The same assessed value on a property owned by a non-owner occupant would be taxed at $4.85/thousand, (with no owner-occupant exemption) for a total of $2,425 in annual real property taxes.  Still low when compared to the mainland!

And if you purchase a condo that is rented out in a resort vacation-rental pool, the annual real property tax is now $4,100 on an annual basis.  The time share tax rate is even higher at $14/thousand, for an annual real property tax of $7,000 for your $500,000 purchase.

Effective July 1, 2009, the Maui County real property tax rates per one thousand dollars of net taxable assessed valuation for each class of property is:

• Homeowner: $2 per $1,000 of assessed value
• Improved Residential: $4.85 per $1,000 of assessed value
• Apartment: $4.55 per $1,000 of assessed value
• Commercial: $6.25 per $1,000 of assessed value
• Agricultural: $4.50 per $1,000 of assessed value
• Conservation: $4.75 per $1,000 of assessed value
• Unimproved Residential: $5.35 per $1,000 of assessed value
• Hotel: $8.20 per $1,000 of assessed value
• Timeshare: $14 per $1,000 of assessed value

Any way you choose to purchase; as an investment, as your retirement home or a Maui vacation rental, Maui is one of the best deals around for real property taxes.

Gary Bland is a real estate expert enjoying low property taxes, living on the beautiful island of Maui.